Improved carpet-bag frame



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL LAGOWITZ, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVED CARPET-BAG FRAME.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,152. dated July 7, 1863.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL LAGOWITZ, of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Frame for Carpet-Bags; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming al part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a side elevation of my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan or top view of one of `the side strips, showing the manner in which the same is prepared.

Similar letters of reference in the several views indicate corresponding parts.

This invention consists in a frame for car-` pet-bags, made ot' wood in such a manner that a cheaper frame is produced than the ordinary iron frame, and a frame which is less liable to get out of order, which is stronger, more durable, easier to transport, and easier to mannA facture.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

Ordinary frames for carpet-bags are made of thin hoop-iron. Each of the side pieces has to be heated in order to bend it to the desired shape. The holes have to be punched into these pieces one at a time, and the iron is liable to crack in bending, and to break at those places where the holcs'pass through. The iron can easily' be bent open, and when bent it will stay and not `spring back toits original position. All those disadvantages are avoided by manufacturing the frame out of wood.

The frame consists of the side pieces, A, and the cover B. I take hickory wood, by preference, and cut it up in pieces Such as shown at Fig. 3, each piece being sufficient to make twelve more or less side pieces, A. Before cutting these pieces up they are bent to the desired shape by an ordinary device for bending wood, and then all the holes are drilled through the whole piece, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 3. The side pieces are now cut ott' by meansof a saw, and it is obvious that the whole number cut from the same piece of wood are exactly alike, and the holes exactly in the same position, so that said pieces can be intel-changed at pleasure; and, furthermore, by this operation much time is saved as compared with the manufacture of such side pieces of iron.

My wooden side pieces are stoonger, and more durable than iron, they have elasticity enough to reassume their original position when bent, and they are not so easily bent apart "as the iron frames. Itis also easier to fasten the leather or other fabric from which the carpetbag is made to the wooden frame than to the iron. With iron frames the fabrics have to be stitched all round, and the foreman or an experienced person has to 'adjust the same and fasten them before it can be given in the hands ofthe girls who do the sewing. To the Wooden frames the fabric can be fastened by means of tacks, and much time is saved.

The covers B ot' my frames are made of simple splints of hickory or other suitable wood bent to the desired shape, and secured to one of the side pieces by stays a, in the ordinary manner. This cover is preferable to the iron cover, because it is not necessary to cover the wood with cloth previous to attaching the fabric. The iron must be covered in order to conceal the ends ofthe rivets used in fastening it to the stays. This cover is lighter, more durable, and stronger than the iron, and the Whole frame can be more readily transported, its weight being about one-third less than that of iron.

In brief, my frame can be manufactured for about one-third of the cost of the ordinary iron frame.

I do not claim, broadly, the making of the jaws of bags of wood; but,

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Having the cover B made of elastic wood, and attached to one ofthe Wooden jaws A by stays, all as herein shown and described.

SAMUEL LAGOWITZ.

Witnesses FEED. WAsHEEHUsEN, HARRY SeHLEsINGER. 

